Tree baling is well known in the field of handling commercial nursery stock. In many cases, it is advantageous to bale the trees while they are standing prior to their felling or transplanting. Well known devices for baling trees include the use of a vertically extensible compression ring initially positioned around the lowest tree branches and moved upwardly against the undersides of the branches pressing them inwardly. As they are held compressed, baling rope is applied to the outside of the branches in a circling spiral fashion to hold the branches in the compressed condition. Trees which are tied up or baled in this way are easier to handle and transport with less damage to the tree. Baling trees in this way also provides greater working space around the tree for digging.
Various prior art patents disclose tree baling equipment of the above-mentioned type. They include U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,193 entitled “Standing Tree Baler” issued to Crew; U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,989 entitled “Tree Limb Folding and Tying Apparatus” issued to Zacharias; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,163 entitled “Standing Tree Baler” issued to Squires. While the currently available tree balers including those disclosed in the above-mentioned patents have been used for this purpose, they are large, complicated and consequently expensive pieces of equipment which are difficult to use and often damage the tree branches.
Tree balers are most commonly used in a tree nursery environment where the trees are planted relatively close together in rows. Therefore, obtaining close access to the tree is always a problem especially when large bulky equipment is used. Furthermore, heavier equipment often bogs down in muddy or wet soil conditions. Because large trees require the powerful force necessary to compress the tree limbs, the current thinking is that this type of heavy and complicated equipment is required. It is also difficult for large equipment to position the compression ring close to the ground. Maintaining the proper alignment of the ring about the tree as it is moved upwardly is rarely achieved by high-reach equipment. All of these deficiencies require additional labor and therefore are expensive. The goal of baling very large trees is to compact their branches so that their overall width is within legal limits for transporting on the highway.
There is therefore a need in the art for a lightweight, maneuverable yet sturdy and powerful high-reach tree baler that is sufficiently robust to handle the force required to bale large standing trees so that they are condensed to a size legal for highway transport.